Indonesia on Friday executed four drug convicts by firing squad, an official said, ignoring worldwide pressure and desperate pleas from relatives to halt the execution.
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They were among 10 foreigners and four Indonesians, including a woman, who were due to be shot by firing squad in the latest round of executions.
“The increasing use of the death penalty in Indonesia is terribly worrying and I urge the government to end this practice, which is unjust and incompatible with human rights”, Zeid said in a statement.
Zulfiqar had been sentenced to death by a court in Indonesia while few hours were left in his execution.
Zulfiqar Ali, 52, was transferred to Nusakambangan prison island off Java where executions take place, and Indonesian authorities had told Pakistani officials his execution was imminent.
In fact, despite its draconian approach to drug smuggling and trafficking, Indonesia had executed relatively few prisoners in recent years, reports the New York Times, “despite having dozens of convicts on death row”.
Indonesian Ambassador Iwan Suyudhie Amri was also summoned to the Foreign Office over the expected execution.
It was originally thought that the executions would take place on Saturday midnight, July 30, but various individuals confirmed it would be done a day earlier.
He said a decision about other executions would be announced at a later time.
Ricky Gunawan, a lawyer from Community Legal Aid Institute who represented Jefferson and Utami, said the government’s unpredictable handling of the process was “tantamount to torture” for those who had been prepared to die.
“The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity”, it added.
Around 152 people remain on death row in Indonesia, including convicted drug traffickers from the Philippines, France and Britain, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The deputy Pakistani ambassador in Jakarta, Syed Zahid Raza, claimed that the family of a Pakistani convict, Zulfiqar Ali, had been told that he would be executed on Thursday night.
Indonesia came under further worldwide pressure on Thursday to halt the execution of 14 with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union both calling on Indonesian President Joko Widodo to declare a moratorium on the death penalty. The sister of a Pakistani man.
The Secretary-General urges President Joko Widodo to consider declaring a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Indonesia and to move towards its abolition. The comments suggest authorities decided at the last minute that the legal grounds for execution in the other cases were not entirely satisfied.
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However, the officials said that they would be put to death at a later date.
